Mamata Banerjee Is Determined To Rename West Bengal ‘Paschimbanga’

Kolkata: In one of the eccentric moves ever, West Bengal Chief Minister (CM) Mamata Banerjee has now made plans to rename the state of West Bengal as ‘Paschimbanga’, because of the state coming in last alphabetically among all Indian states!

It all started when the Trinamool supremo came to the national capital to attend the inter-state council meeting at the President’s House. 

All the chief ministers were invited to discuss their various state-specific issues with the Prime Minister (PM). The outcome of the meeting left Mamata furious, as she was made to wait for over six hours and given only 12 minutes to speak to PM Modi at the end of the session. 

This time it was not the fault of the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre or a section of media allegedly conspiring against her government in Bengal. It was the alphabetical order of the states which meant she had to wait her turn for so long. 

Since she could not vent her ire at that stage, Mamata gulped down her irritation.

But on returning home, the angry CM decided to gear-up for a name change for her state — a long-pending issue that the TMC government kicked off soon after coming to power in 2011. 

It was learnt that the CM had come to Delhi to discuss key issues with the Prime Minister in the meeting. However, since her turn came at the end, she was not allowed to speak for long.

After storming to power for the first time in 2011, the CM had called for an all-party meeting over changing West Bengal’s name to ‘Paschimbanga’ to help address the ‘alphabetical issue’ which can sometimes see it put last in the running orders.

The proposal was sent to the Centre following an all-party agreement. In 2014, the then joint secretary (Centre-State) in the Ministry Of Home Affairs Suresh Kumar had reportedly informed the state government that a Bill — the West Bengal (Alteration of Name) Act, 2014 — would be tabled in Parliament and a final call taken. 

However, after two years nothing has progressed and the Bill was never brought to the table in the House. 

Sources said Banerjee has already instructed her government to do whatever is required to progress the matter urgently.